School. What do you think of when you hear that word? Do you think of students and teachers, pencils and papers, reading and writing? Hopefully that is your image of school, but for many students across the nation, their vision of school is different: a target point for violence. Authority members in the United States must be aware of bullying in schools immediately because it is a growing issue, suicides related to school issues are becoming more common, and teachers are not as involved as they should be,

SLAM. A student is pushed against his locker. Another student calls him names, and empties out his backpack. You have seen bullying before, and you know that the victim is scared. But you keep to yourself, because you don’t want to be bullied as well. Stories like this happen everyday. Bullying is everywhere.

According to the study of “Make Beats Beat Down.org”, 1 in 7 K-12 graders have experienced bullying. That’s about 7.8 million kids nationwide! The sad thing is, the 7.8 million students are not just victims, but also witnesses. Kids who want to stop this, but don’t know how, or don’t want to get involved. This is a horrible thing happening to our country’s children, and yet it happens in schools right before our eyes. Calling names, embarrassing, and simply putting someone down are all examples of this horrible crime. Ask yourself this...have you ever been called names, humiliated by someone purposely, or been put down by someone just for your their amusement? Then you have experienced bullying, and you know what it feels like. No person should ever feel like they don’t belong. A little kindness can go a long way.

Horrible results have happened from school bullying situations. Victims feel like there is no other way out, than to just end it all together. Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University. “While there is no definitive evidence that bullying makes kids more likely to kill themselves, now that we see there’s a likely association, we can act on it and try to prevent it,” says Shin Kim M.D. from Yale.

Immediate action must be taken to prevent these horrible fatalities. More guidance towards bullies and their drive to hurt others, more counselling and advisory groups for victims, and better education for our nation’s children to know what they can do in a bullying situation. Is this what we want for our country’s future leaders? So much pressure is put on kids these days to do well, that they burn themselves out, and can't take it any longer. Death is not the solution. Bullying victims are literally throwing their lives away, so how can we just stand there and watch?

It is often said that bullying can help a child learn what the real world is about; the world isn’t always a happy place. It is true that kids need to learn from their mistakes, so they don’t make the same mistakes in the future. But, when you have a case where bullying and violence is repetitive, there are no positives to the situation. If schools are seen as a target point for violence, how will our country’s kids handle future problems? About 160,000 students miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students, and here we sit around as if our schools are the image of safe learning. Will it be ok for them to skip work because they don’t feel welcome? Thus, there needs to be more emphasis on school safety before any other concern.

“Bullying is not a matter of bad kids versus good kids, but is a situation in which both children need help in learning how to channel their emotions and interact successfully with others”. Dr. Peter Sheras, author of Your Child: Bully or Victim, and psychologist at The University of Virginia, explains how bullying is caused mainly from a lack of guidance, or support of a child. He develops and evaluates school programs for communities before it becomes life threatening. There must be more people like Dr. Sheras, to help inform parents about what to be teaching their children. Often, a strategy of professionals is to teach empathy to keep bullying to a minimum. Kids are told to “step into another child’s shoes” before name calling.

As a nation, we cannot sit back and watch our children be involved in such violence. Kids suffer every day from depression, and we create this naive world that our schools are a safe place where individuals can prosper. Well guess what, it’s not! We must stop bullying now because it is a huge issue in schools, suicides are becoming more frequent, and teachers and parents are not getting as involved in the situation. Millions of lives could be affected if we stop bullying across the nation. We must create better learning environments for our country's children, and generations to come.

Sources:
Arrington, Rebecca. "UVA Today." . University of Virginia , 18 Oct 2007. Web. 20 Feb 2013. <http://news.virginia.edu/content/tip-sheet-uva-experts-discuss-issues-bullying>.

Peart, Karen. "Yale News." . Yale University, 16 Jul 2008. Web. 10 Mar 2013. <http://news.yale.edu/2008/07/16/bullying-suicide-link-explored-new-study-researchers-

. N.p.. Web. 20 Feb 2013. <http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/at-school/index.html>.

Pearlman, Catherine. "CNN Opinion." CNN.com. CNN, 8 Oct 2010. Web. 13 Feb 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/08/pearlman.empathy.bullying/index.html?iref=allsearch>.